Thoughts of a Confused Teenage Boy
by Sleepyhead08
Summary: Jimmy does some serious thinking. Perhaps he was not prepared for this whole "liking girls" shabang.
1. The Revelation

Jimmy walked down the street. His attempts to suppress his feelings thus far had not proven to be as exemplary as his scientific discoveries. He just could not shut her out of his mind no matter how hard he tried. He looked back on the days of their childhood. They first met when he moved into town one day. He did not expect to find anyone who could rival him in scientific matters, but alas, she had been the one to occupy that spot. Surprisingly, their competition did not repel him, but actuated his love for her. A woman with whom he could hold a steady conversation had always been something for which he yearned. Her looks of apparent disdain, while he attempted to shrug them off, affected him deeply, for in truth he had always craved her affection. When he arrived at the Candy Bar, he shook himself from his dreamlike state and entered. He approached the table at which he usually met his friends and sat down. They had not arrived yet, and Jimmy whispered maledictions under his breath as he was cursed to further indulge in his thoughts of Cindy. He had been having these thoughts for a while everywhere he went unless he had a distraction at hand. It was always confounding, his love for her. Her pugnacious attitude certainly wouldn't attract a majority of teenage boys, but for whatever reason, the way she contravened him was the thing he liked about her the most. He simply could not wrap his mind around these feelings he had for her. Of course, there was that one ephemeral instance they had shared on the island. She seemed to be genuinely interested in him wihout the others around. Perhaps it had all been a ruse designed to increase her apparent fortitude. After all, she despised the fact that her crown as the smartest in town had been usurped. He wondered if the confrontations they frequently held were disingenuous in actuality. Her actions as a whole were extremely discordant. He sat there with his head in his hands, confused in contemplation. He was a neophyte, an underling incapable of handling decisions in a field such as this. He was a man of science, not a man of romance. He didn't know the first thing about women. He glanced out the window in an attempt to suspend these thoughts on hiatus when, through the barely translucent window, as Sam had likely not cleaned them in eight months, he noticed Sheen and Carl striding up to the front entrance. They entered the establishment and claimed their usual seats beside Jimmy and inquired as to what he had been pondering. These were his best friends; they had every right to know what was going on in his life. He told them about the way he felt for Cindy, his urge to spend all of his time with her for no logical reason. At first, they abjured the proposal. There was no way on Earth those two would end up together after all the fighting they had done. However, as Jimmy protested, their docile minds began to comprehend the enormity of the situation they were handling. Their first reaction was to issue him a serious caveat. Should he ever tell her of his feelings, he could be solely culpable for the utter annihilation of their tightly knit group of friends. The persistence with which he spoke was laudable, but Sheen and Carl agreed that he needed to be more frugal with his love. A girl like Cindy would never fall for him in a million years. He'd be better off with Betty Quinlan. Unfortunately for Jimmy, his heart has different plans. He thanked his friends for the advice and began his long journey home. He had taken this path many times before, but on this occasion, it felt a bit more painful. His thoughts plagued him as he returned to the cold and loveless emptiness of his lab. His science would not help him now, and if science couldn't help him, then what would?


	2. The Decision

Jimmy sat in his lab, pondering what to do next. He had no cure, no way of alleviating this assiduous pain... except, of course, for the one thing his friends had shot down. However, his benign friends knew not of his true plight. At face value, he doubted they fully grasped what he felt. Nonetheless, he set to work doing the one thing he knew how to do: science.

He began with his sample of love potion he had previously created. Ahh, sweet Love Potion #976/J. He had attempted this once before. He was a child then, and his cocky attitude towards his work was extremely fallacious. Each and every experiment of his went awry, and this one was no exception. However, Jimmy felt he had matured and was ready to handle it once more. His time spent as somewhat of a bibliophile had left him with the experience necessary to augment his previous dangerously low success rate. He called for Goddard, his trusty robot dog who was still there for him after all these years. With the proper supplies at hand, he sat down at his desk and began to tinker. He spun screws, melded metals, and stirred solutions, all the while sedentary and abstemious. This work was simply too important to think of anything else. Besides, he didn't even feel hungry until his mother Judy appeared on the large monitor mounted on the wall. Her booming voice echoed through the lab: "Jimmy! Time for dinner! Please, come out of that lab of yours for once." Jimmy looked at the clock. Eight on the dot. He had been at work for nearly eight hours straight. He had a propensity to do that when dealing with laborious and insurmountably important projects such as this one. He just hoped he could get it right. His future depended on it, and the consequences would be irrevocable.

Jimmy trudged upstairs and walked across the lawn towards the kitchen. He slumped down into his chair at the dinner table with a virile grunt. His mother posited before him a plate piled high with meat. There was so much food the mashed potatoes she had prepared almost seemed superfluous.

"So, how was your day?" Judy asked her son.

"Fine." he replied nonchalantly.

"Nothing at all going on in that big head of yours, Jimbo?" Jimmy's father Hugh chimed in.

"Not a thing." Jimmy answered.

"You know, you do this every night now. We sit down for dinner and you refuse to have a conversation with us." Judy now posed indignantly.

Jimmy's intractable personality would not help him in this situation. "You know, studies have shown that this type of home environment is not conducive to child productivity. Besides, if I consume too much of this thing you call 'meatloaf,' I'll be as corpulent as a Balaenoptera musculus."

Judy kept her malevolent tone. "Don't talk science to me, mister!"

Jimmy needed to end this conversation quickly so he could get back to his work. He intrepidly announced, "I'm going back to my lab. See you in the morning."

Judy sighed. "James, sometimes I wish you'd be more adherent. Your intelligence is just... too much to handle sometimes."

Jimmy left without another word. He knew his family didn't appreciate the things he did for science. After all, they were simpletons. Used cars and lint was all they knew.

Oh, how little they knew.


	3. The Solution

Jimmy pulled out a hair and scanned it on VOX as he always did when he entered his lab. With the way he was using that lab, it was a wonder he still had any hair left.

He sat down at his desk, thinking of a way to test this concoction he'd been creating. He considered giving it to his friends, but he'd have to go incognito; they'd never agree if they knew what it did. He scrapped the idea, as trickery was against the ethics of science. Besides, he wasn't very ambidextrous, anyway. His only other option was to administer it to himself. He didn't want to do it, but he really had no choice. However, he was cognizant of the side effects this creation might have. His mind filled with premonitions as he worried about the efficacy and legitimacy of his potion of sorts. In an attempt to limit his love for Cindy, he may in the process make himself less gregarious. Now, that's not to say that he was entirely sociable as it is, but he could be even less so. He may never love again, even someone who would willingly requite it. An achromatic heart would make for a lonely life. Maybe his attempts were sophomoric after all. Maybe he should just live with the pain like many others in the same situation.

No, he was too good for that. He shouldn't be convoluting his own thoughts like this. He was not like the others, for he was Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. While that may sound precious, he maintained its verity.

Jimmy finally decided, after trusting his own abilities, to take the solution himself. He perfected the mixture and, with a clichéd audible gulp, chugged it.

That was that. The deed had been done. He didn't feel any different. Hmph. Strange. He would tell his friends about it in the morning.

Jimmy left his house and proceeded towards the park to find his friends. He needed to tell them of his experiment... but perhaps he would exclude the failure. Anything less than complete success would prompt a cataclysm of caustic criticism from his companions. He could tell them of his development process. To them, it would seem abstruse, leaving them in admiration regardless of his ultimate failure.

As he entered the park, Jimmy was met not by his friends, but by Cindy herself. What a stroke of luck! Whether it be good or bad or just laziness on the part of the writer, Cindy was currently walking her dog at that very park. Jimmy tried to avoid her at all costs, but her shrieks could not be ignored.

"Nerdtron! What are *you* doing here?" she spat in his direction.

Jimmy forced himself to turn around and face her. He couldn't care less about what she was saying, but was stupefied, not by love, but by the lack thereof. His potion had worked! He had no feelings for her at all!

...no feelings...

...at all.

She continued screaming, but he felt no anger. She was neither cherubic nor ignominious. At this point, she just... was.

"Hey, you in there?" she shouted, frustrated at his seemingly rudimentary stare.

The brevity of her patience didn't yet put him off as it normally would, and he responded as nonchalantly as he would to a store clerk.

"What was that you asked?" Jimmy replied, his attitude coming off nascent.

"Hello? Were you not listening? Do you NOT remember me being angry at you for yesterday?"

Oh, that's right. She had caught him staring at her. That was fun.

"Ah, yes, now I remember. I apologize for any disconcertions you might have had. It won't happen again."

Cindy now issued what she considered an ultimatum.

"Let me just warn you if I *ever* catch you doing anything like that again, I will beat you to a pulp."

At this Cindy's voice came to a crescendo. Jimmy began to feel contempt for her once more, only this time, there was no love to be felt.

"Very well, then. As you were."

Jimmy fled in search of his friends. He scanned the park, noting how microcosmic it was in relation to the town itself. People of all races and creeds gathered here. Mrs. Fowl, his teacher, was sitting on a bench reading the newspaper, some children were playing baseball, and of course there was Nick trying his hand at another skateboard trick that was sure to leave him in the hospital with another broken leg. Nevertheless, Jimmy could not locate his friends in the hectic crowd and finally gave up, exasperated after all that had happened. He'd check Sheen's house later.

This time, however, he would be bringing news of success.


End file.
